Van Pelt 1

Jake Van Pelt

Megan Keaton
ENC 2135
126 July 2016
Defining and Analyzing GenreDefining and Understanding Genre
Genre, a categorical classification of poems, movies, books, and other mediums used
to convey ideasitems of the like based on their content. This is typically the understood
meaning of genre when used in an everyday conversation situation. According to Dirk,
people refer to their gGenre kKnowledge or, their past experiences with reading and
writing similar texts in similar situations, to help orient themselves as to how they should
interpret the information provided by the genre (Dirk 251). In order to understand what a
genre is specifically, Braziller and Kleinfeld state that one must, pay attention to the
specific elements that are common to most examples of the genre (Braziller and Kleinfeld
14). With these thoughts considered, genre can be defined as the way that we as humans
interpret and classify ways that information is presented based off our prior knowledge and
experiences. So to better understand what a genre is, one can think of a genre like a pizza.
For example, the features of a pizza that distinguish it from something like noodles or
pasta, is that it is a large crust; that is typically covered in cheese and tomato sauce; and
can have a variety of other toppings like pepperoni orf bacon. Yet for something to be what
most consider to be a pizza, all it needs to be is a flattened piece of dough with at least
cheese on it. These features of the pizza can be likened to the conventions of a genre with the
bacon, pepperoni, cheese, sauce, and bread each being a genre convention. With the romantic
novel genre of books, there is typically a heartfelt tone, lots of romantic imagery, and

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typically involves two main characters. Compared to a manual for something like an
appliance, however, there is no tone, everything in the manual directly references the
appliance, and most importantly, it informs rather than entertains the reader. From the
differences these two types of writings contain, the unique genre of each can be seen. Genre
has three main conventions that are typically used in helping to establish what is
characteristic of the genre. These are sStyle, dDesign, and cCredibility.
To demonstrate how genre is defined, an evaluation of my application for the Bryan
Hall LLC shall be done. The application was written to appeal to the upper (or perhaps
lower) management of Florida State Universitys housing and Living Learning Community
administrations. I wroteAs such, the application has been written to be concise and
professional, as getting into an LLC is a competitive process. The reaction I hoped to evoke in
the audience was that I was a qualified candidate for the LLC and that I had substantial data from
my past actions to support the conclusion to accept me into the LLC. Contained within the
application is a detailed account of why I myself believe that I should be allowed to join the
Bryan Hall LLC; hence, it includes accounts of some of my merits like receiving the rank of
Eagle Scout after being in the Cub scout and Boy scout programs for a combined total of
thirteen years. With the Bryan Hall LLCs main purpose of being a program to broaden
the horizons of its participants, I also included a rather detailed account of my time at the
Experimental Aircraft Association Convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin During the summer
of 2015. This was included because ofdue to the variety of experiences I had while I was
there like interacting with people of the high upper class, meeting people who traveled
internationally from places like South Africa and Australia. I also enjoyed , getting to learn

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about potential career options in the realm of aviation, and just getting to learn about so
many different aircraft.
The application is easily identifiable as a professional document meant to answer a
question posed by the Bryan Hall Living Learning Community. It can be identified as such
becausesuch a document, for the three primary genre convention of style, design, and credibility
fit the genre for an essay meant to try to convince the audience about something. Additionally,
the genre convention of text, or what the actual composition of information within the document
is, also helps to identify the paper as one of the application sort. With the paper being addressed
to well-regarded administration staff and considering how the entire document was written to
convince them to let me join a program, the overall genre convention of style is identified as
having a serious tone. My decision to have a serious and concise style was necessary as I needed
to quickly make an impact on the reader and to distinguish myself from the other applications.
While trying to be serious and concise, the application also needed to contain sufficient detail to
provide support for the argument as to why I should be able to join the Bryan Hall LLC. This is
whyAs such, the sentences are rather lengthy, often containing two or more independent clauses
and perhaps a few extendedrun on sentences providing significantgreat detail about my time in
Wisconsin and about other facts concerning my personal life. As forWith regards to design, the
application begins with an introductory statement explaining as to why I am interested in the
Bryan Hall LLC. This was my choice for design because the rhetorical situation had a question
for me to answer. From here, the text proceeds to the topic of how my horizons of what I wanted
to do for a living was broadened by my experience in Oshkosh, Wisconsin at the Experimental
Aircraft Association Convention. This was done, so as to show how the idea of exploring career

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options gripped my interest and hence, justify why the exploration based Bryan Hall LLC caught
my eye in the first place. The overall design of the application includes a sufficient amount of
imagery in order, so as to better convey my experiences and make it a bit more understandable
for the reader. I felt the need to do this because, as some of the claims may have seen a bit
farfetched concerning how all that happened was within the span of a few days. Credibility was
ratherfairly crucial forto the application, as it is what neededhas to be established for any of the
content of the document to matter to the reader. I went about establishing credibility by writing
with vivid imagery, giving details about my background as an Eagle scout (a scout is trustworthy
is the first word said in the list of what a scout is in the Scout Law), and expressing genuine
interest through my diction and tone throughout the document. The last genre convention of text
helps to firmly establish the genre of the document as one of the application type. The document
is written with its purposewhole idea being to convince the reader about why I wish to join the
Bryan Hall LLC, with this dictating that the content of the passage needs to be relevant, literal,
and sensible.
The rRhetorical situation had a profound effect upon the genre of the document as it laid
out how the document needed to be direct, informative and convincing. Social expectations were
the most influential factor when it came to determining as to how the document was to be
structured. This was the case becauseas the goal of the document was again, to make an
impression on someone so that they would consider letting me as a potential applicant for a
competitive entry program join a limited access program for the fall semester. This also meant
that the content of the passage needed tomust be interesting, memorable, and reasonable in
helping to make the decision to accept or reject me for the LLC. The only genre convention that I

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started to deviate from was style with regards to the length of my sentences, as they were all
rather long but contained pertinent information. The audience is still a bit vague to me as to what
branch of adminastration organization actually read my paper. This, along with the fact that the
audience are staff at a prestigious educational institution, meant that I had to keep the paper
professional and informative, only includingto what could be used to arguesupport for my entry
into the Bryan Hall LLC. With there being a number of submitted applications, my paper needed
to be one that would stand out as none of the applicants really know those who is to review the
application, hence I need to make mine memorable to keep ahead of my competitors. With the
purpose being to make an impact upon the audience and convince them that I was the type of
student they were looking for, it was crucial that I follow the genre conventions regarding how
formal the style of the document was and the design that the document could not be too long.
With genre being the understanding and classifying of data presented through different
mediums, I felt that would be fitting to compare the distinguishing factors of a genre to the
unique factors of a pizza. In After taking into account all the factors, I wrote my paper in the
genre of a type of application. mMy previous work, (the Bryan Hall LLC application) my goals
were to convince the reader that I was a suitable candidate for the programthe right guy and
establish a sort of credibility through my unique experience I recalled in the document. The
audience being staff meant that professional quality was a must, and that I would need to try to
convey myself in the most genuine way possible, recalling experiences. The overall document
was relatively short, with this being determined by the fact that the audience would be reading a
number of these, and so itas such, needed to rememberconcise, memorable, mine and really
consider how it portrayed me in considering my as being a perfectly qualified candidatecation for

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the Bryan Hall Living Learning Community.

Works Cited
Braziller, Amy, and Elizabeth Kleinfield. The Bedford Book of Genres: A Guide and Reader
FSU edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. Print. pg. 14-19
Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Eds. Charles Lowe

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and Pavel Zemliansky. Anderson: Parlor Press, 2010. writingspaces.org. Web. 27
Jun. 2016. Pg. 247-256